NATIONAL. Pontypridd, Glamorganshire. 18th February 1887.

The owners of the colliery were Messrs. Watts, Ward and Company with Mr. Edgar Watts as the agent and Mr. J. H. Williams the certificated manager. There were two shafts sunk in 1880 which were 454 yards deep to the Six Feet Seam. With the exception of a drift connecting the shafts, there were no openings in the seam. The only seam that was being worked when the explosion took place was the Four Feet which was cut at 425 yards in the shafts but as the working extended below the mountain, there was an additional depth of strata at and near the working faces of about 100 yards.

The seam lay almost flat and a few faults had been encountered. The workings extended 1,000 yards to the north, 600 yards the south and 600 yards to the east, an area of about 170 acres which had been worked on longwall which was the method general to the district. The coal was semi-bituminous and was an excellent steam, coal. It was dry and large quantities of dust were deposited in the roads and held in the air in the mine. Inflammable gas was given off freely from the coal and from cracks in the roof.

The colliery was well equipped with machinery and appliances and was fairly well laid out with respect to its working and ventilation. The winding shaft was also the downcast and was seventeen and a half feet in diameter. The upcast was twenty-seven yards away and was fifteen feet in diameter. This shaft was occasionally used for winding water when a bucket was used to raise the water that collected below the Four Feet Seam. There was also a small pumping engine at 120 yards deep for raising water which collected in a lodgement at that point. The whole of this shaft was an upcast with a Schiele fan, 15 feet in diameter running at 150 r.p.m. which exhausted about 150,000 cubic feet of air per minute at a water gauge of 2.9 inches. There was a Waddle fan, 45 feet in diameter which was used as an emergency fan. The air was distributed through the workings by splitting the air into different currents with the quantities reaching the working faces being adequate for the requirements of the mine.

There was one main day shift of colliers who worked in the leading places and about 500 others who started work at 7 a.m. and ended their shift at 4.30 p.m. The night shift was made up mainly of repairers which started work at 7 p.m. and finished at 4.30 a.m. There were also some colliers who worked in leading places who worked continuous eight-hour shifts starting at 6 a.m., 2 p.m. and 10 p.m. The ordinary colliers who got the coal built the gob walls and cogs of timber which were necessary to support the roof of the stalls and roads as they advanced.

A bed of clod from six to eighteen inches thick which lay over the coal was taken down over the whole face and built into the gob. In the roads, a bed of bottom coal, 18 inches thick, was cut by the colliers. The small coal was stowed in the gob behind the working faces. The roads at the face were about 7 feet high and 9 feet wide between the walls.

No blasting was required at or near the face. The maintenance of the roads and air courses which were about 9 feet wide and six feet high and the timbering was seen to by the repairing shift. Although the roadways at the face were fully 7 feet high, after the subsidence of the strata 80 to 100 yards back from the face, the height was reduced to 5 feet or under and to make the roof height a strong “clift” was ripped. This was done by blasting.

The owners intended the blasting to be done as follows:

Shots were only to be fired in the interval between the principle day shift leaving work and the repairing shift commencing, the holes having been bored during the previous repairing shift. The only explosive use was gelatine: dynamite in conjunction with Professor Able’s water cartridge, fired by the means of an electric battery and cable.

This method was adopted by the owners as the safest for firing where safety lamps were used and to prevent the possibility of flame from a shot. The shots were fired by night overman and firemen and no one else was allowed to be in possession of firing equipment.

The pit was lit by Marsaut safety lamps and the cleaning and trimming of them were done by men employed for the purpose in a proper lamp room at the surface. No naked light was allowed in the workings or even in the pit with the exception of the bottom of the downcast shaft. There were stations at which lamps were examined and re-lit by appointed persons and the fires of the steam boilers, all of which were in the intake air currents and within 250 yards of the downcast shaft. The shaft bottom, sidings and engine house were lit by electric lamps, the current being carried down the shaft from the surface installation.

Then roads were watered at intervals by water tanks drawn by horses. This was done at night but it was not carried out in an n organised manner.

Mr. Edgar Watts was the resident agent, Mr. J.H. Williams the certificated manager, Mr. George Wilkinson, consulting engineer but he did not interfere with the details of management. William Meredith was the day overman and Griffith Griffiths was the night overman who lost his life in the disaster. There were three day and two night fireman, Griffiths, the overman, acted as fireman in one district during the night shift. The reports required by the General Rules were made in books for the purpose. The colliery was regularly examined every month on behalf of the workmen under the terms of General Rule 30.

The explosion occurred about 6.40 p.m. on the 18th February at a time when the men of the repairing shift were gathered at the pit head ready to go down as soon as they received the report that all was well. There was a discharge of smoke and dust from the mouth of the downcast shaft and the winding rope was thrown off the sheave. Part of a corrugated iron roof was blown off and there was damage to the top of both shafts.

Mr. Robson arrived at the colliery as soon as possible the following morning and Mr. Randall, the Assistant Inspector had arrived during the night and was with the first party who went below at about 10 a.m. The blast had reached the top of both the upcast and downcast shafts and had damaged one of the cages and the signalling wires but fortunately, the Schiele fan was still running. The covering of the top of the upcast shaft and the fan drift was fortunately built of light material and was easily displaced by the blast and this saved greater damage.

On descending the pit the explorers soon found that the explosion had affected the north side of the workings but had not passed beyond the shaft on the opposite side. It had been felt by the men on this side and they had left their workplaces at once to come to the shaft. There were twenty-eight of these men and they were sent to the surface at once. There were eight men burned and injured at and near the bottom of the stables. They were attended to and sent to the surface as soon as possible. One of them was found to be delirious in the north side stables amongst the bodies of the horses, all of which were killed on that side of the shaft. Eight bodies were found at the bottom or within 70 yards of it.

Messrs. Randall and Robson assisted with the explorations and were present until all the bodies had been recovered. It was soon seen that with the exception of those who had been sent to the surface from near the bottom of the shaft, all the men in the pit were lost. This was evident from the extent to which the afterdamp in the roads and return airways except for a short distance to the north were the ventilation was cut off due to an air stopping being blown down and al the doors separating the intake and return on that side of the pit, destroyed.

The work of recovering the bodies from the workings was difficult and hazardous as the ventilation was partly restored by there were large pockets of gas and several falls on the main roads some of which eree18 to 20 feet high and almost filled the passage. The extreme parts of the workings were reached on Wednesday 23rd February, five days after the explosion

Those who lost their lives were:

  • Daniel Davies aged 22 years, stoker.
  • Walter Bevan aged 30 years, haulier.
  • David Owen aged 33 years, farrier.
  • Frank Belbin aged 26 years, haulier.
  • Henry Wilford aged 32 years, saddler.
  • Richard Arthur aged 60 years, ostler.
  • John Price aged 29 years, hitcher.
  • Samuel Richards aged 27 years, haulier.
  • Albert Shewry aged 24 years, pump engineman.
  • Daniel Jones aged 52 years, collier.
  • William David Williams aged 14 years, collier’s boy.
  • Richard Pritchard aged 42 years, contractor.
  • William Roberts aged 22 years, haulier.
  • William Guy aged 18 years, labourer.
  • Griffith Griffiths aged 51 years, overman.
  • Thomas Tovey aged 28 years, cogman.
  • Morgan Davies aged 40 years, roadman.
  • Henry Davies aged 32 years, collier.
  • John Charles aged 22 years, collier.
  • John Evans aged 34 years, ripper.
  • John Curley aged 36 years, collier.
  • Charles Williams aged 25 years, collier.
  • Watkin Jones aged 23 years, collier.
  • Richard Powell aged 37 years, collier.
  • Morgan Gibbon aged 26 years, collier.
  • John Lewis aged 32 years, collier.
  • Phillip Jeffries aged 28 years, collier.
  • Thomas Morgan aged 38 years, collier.
  • William Llewellyn aged 31 years, haulier.
  • Oliver Clements aged 23 years, haulier.
  • Thomas Jones aged 23 years, haulier.
  • Edward Goodwin aged 25 years, haulier.
  • John Jones aged 36 years, ripper.
  • Thomas Tudor aged 38 years, collier.
  • The injured who survived were:
  • Daniel Davies aged 28 years, hitcher,
  • Lewis Evan Williams, haulier,
  • William Thomas Pritchard aged 17 years, ostler,
  • William Tucker aged 24 years, ripper,
  • William Watkins aged 27 years, rider,
  • Samuel Strange aged 50 years, ostler,

Two were taken out of the mine alive but later died. They were:

  • Thomas Griffiths aged 25 years, haulier,
  • William Reed aged 22 years, haulier.

It was apparent from the beginning that the explosion originated in the north workings and that blast had travelled from some point there but the exact point could not be defined for sure. It had passed through the intakes, driven doors into returns and stopped about 250 yards on the opposite or east side of shaft, killing or injuring every person in its range.

The blast occurred at the moment when, under normal circumstances, the night overman and firemen should have arrived at the bottom of the shaft after having completed their inspections and fired any shots which had to be fired. They had not arrived from the north side for they were not among the dead or injured near the shaft, nor were they on road for as far as it could be travelled.

It was known to under officials that shots had been prepared for firing that night in the north district. As the exploration proceeded, the position of these six shots was discovered. Two of them were charged ready for firing in Salvation district, another was found on Straight heading where a new double parting was being constructed. A fourth, 25 yards further on in the No.1 East had been fired. The fifth and sixth shots were found at the top of dips in Cwm Nedd district, within three yards of each other. The first of these was charged but had not been fired. The second had been fired and had done its work. It was here that the bodies of night overman and fireman were found with the apparatus for firing the shots. The body of overman was found close to the spot where he had sat when firing the shot with the battery connected to wires,. The body of fireman was found between the two shots about ten yards away. Two others who were found here were men who assisted shotfirers to carry the apparatus from place to place. The remaining three men had been in working place, cutting bottom, relaying rails and removing the debris so that work could resume as soon as possible as there were colliers at work in this district whose coal was brought out by road on which shot was fired.

Nobody was found near the first or second unfired shots. The man who had prepared these, after waiting and finding the shot firers were late, had gone over to the other side of the workings where his body was found. Near the third shot, which had been fired, was the body of the contractor who was making the double parting, he had begun work after the shot had been fired. Close by him was the body of a haulier who had been returning with his horse from the shaft. There was nobody found near the fourth shot that had been fire.

Safety lamps belonging to those who had been killed in the north workings were found, except for two. Three were badly damaged by the blast but no other lamps were found that had any fault.

Although it was suspected when the bodies were found that the firing of the shot had been responsible for the explosion, it was not until three weeks later that the position of the shot was discovered and proof of it having being fired was placed beyond any dispute.

The inquest into the disaster was held before Mr. R.J. Rees, Coroner for the district. All interested parties were represented. The Inspector, Mr. Robson, said:

There can be no doubt that the explosion was caused by a shot being fired in the return airway charged with gas and thickly covered with fine coal dust, the road being the main horse road on which there was a great deal of traffic. It clearly showed that the danger which attends shot firing in fiery and dusty seams, notwithstanding precautionary measures which owners may be willing and anxious to have carried out to prevent such accidents, for the precautions may be neglected, as certainly they were in this case.

It is so far satisfactory, as showing that the danger referred to is becoming more generally admitted, that for the most part blasting is only resorted to in ripping strong ground and indeed in several collieries, the owners do not permit it at all, excepting in special cases, such as driving stone drifts.

The jury brought in the following verdict:

That an explosion of gas occurred at the National Colliery, in the Parish of Llanwonno, at 6.40 p.m. on 18th February 1887 whereby Griffith Griffiths and others lost their lives, and they cannot in consequence of the lack of evidence find out the cause of the explosion nor where it started.

The added the following rider:

It is the unanimous opinion of the jury that the management of the said colliery was conducted in a loose manner and not so carefully as the case required.

The same verdict applied to thirty-seven more of those who lost their lives. The verdict recorded on Albert Shewry was:

That he met his death by falling down the upcast shaft at the National Colliery on the 18th February 1887 and was found dead in the sump of the 23rd February 1887.

Mr. Robson concluded his report:

The discipline of the colliery was certainly not what it ought to have been. The day fireman in the Cwm Medd had not reported in the book the finding of gas and the withdrawal of workmen which took place on the day before the explosion. This was a breach of the 6th General Rule. Shots were not fired in the manner strictly in accordance with the instructions given by the owners. There were many persons allowed to be in the pit who should not have been there when shots were fired. This was within the knowledge of the agent and managers and was a contravention of the 8th. General Rule.

 The occurrence of this lamentable explosion is another proof of the danger of shot firing in mines producing gas, and which are also dry and dusty and shows how absolutely necessary it is that some thoroughly effective mode of removing the dust or preventing its deposition, and of watering the vicinity of the shots, should be enforced.

 

REFERENCES
The Mines Inspectors Report, 1887. Mr. Robson.
Reports to the Right Honourable Secretary of State for the Home Department on an explosion which occurred at the National Colliery, Ynyshir, on the 18th February 1887 by F.B. Bosanquet, Esq., One of Her Majesty’s Counsel and J.T. Robson, Esq., One of Her Majesty’s Inspectors of Mines. C 5064.
The Colliery Guardian 1st April 1887, p. 459, 25th February 1887, p. 278.
“And they worked us to death” Vol.2. Ben Fieldhouse and Jackie Dunn. Gwent Family History Society.

Information supplied by Ian Winstanley and the Coal Mining History Resource Centre.

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